Forty soldiers watched till midnight, when a similar number relieved
them, and they again were relieved two hours before dawn; all three divisions
camping on the spot. Often every man was kept awake by alarms. Bernal
Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 142-3. The old soldier waxes eloquent over the hardships,
for he served at this camp.
The Spaniards tried in vain to despatch him. Sahagun states that
during these attacks fifteen soldiers were captured, and shortly after eighteen
more, who were sacrificed in a temple of Tlacuchcalco ward, ‘donde agora
es la iglesia de Santa Ana.’ Hist. Conq., 183, ed. 1840, 188-9. One repulse
took place in Coyonacazco ward. Torquemada, i. 550-2. Spanish versions indicate
no such losses, and they may probably belong to the later great defeat.
Such is in main the version of Bernal Diaz; the other accounts differ
greatly. This author states that five Spaniards were captured, nearly all the
men wounded, and two rowers killed, for the brigantines in seeking to aid had
become fast on stakes and exposed to attack. Had the Mexicans not been so
frightened by the horsemen the loss would have been very great. Hist. Verdad.,
143-4. Cortés allows three or four captured. Cartas, 228; Clavigero, Storia
Mess., iii. 196. Duran places the scene where rose afterward the San
Hipólito hermitage. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 500. But for Quauhtlizcatzin, the
prince who led the Tezcucan auxiliaries, all the Spaniards would have been
lost, exclaims Ixtlilxochitl, Hor. Crueldades, 36. Herrera assumes that the
fault lay with Alvarado for neglecting to fill the channel. dec. iii. lib. i. cap. xx.